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Tuesday Tatting Tales – Week 4

Here we are at week 4 in my *ahem* journey to learn how to make tatted lace. I am a pretty happy camper right now.

I KNOW RIGHT!?!?!

I only practiced needle tatting and I only practiced for a few hours this morning. Last week I had set my goal to be practicing chains. Well I wanted to play around a little more with joining circles. 😀

These actually looklike something!! Or at least the start of something!!

I am trying to temper my excitement because I still haven’t made much headway with the chains. This is more than a little frustrating because the super cheerful but somewhat unhelpful people in the tutorial videos kind of skim right over chains with a flip little “Just pull the thread through – easy” – THAT IS A LIE!

If anyone out there knows how to needle tat please tell me why when I just pull the thread through I only end up with circles and not the nicely curved chain??

Once I have the chains figured out I am going to just go for it and find a simple needle tatting pattern.

Here are my take-aways and important things that I learned this week:

Remembering to turn your work is very important – the top of the stitch goes in a certain direction and failing to have your work on the correct side makes it a little messy

I have found that cutting the thread off of the ball is easier when just starting to learn how to tat. When I try to leave the string attached it is very easy to end up with knots where they don’t belong

Use a nice big flat surface to work on – my rather beat up card table was perfect for laying the thread out while I was pulling the needle through the stitches – less tangling.

I will eventually get back to the shuttle but at this point I am so encouraged by my needle progress that I just can’t stop.

One last thing for this week – Last night I posted on Tanglewood Tapestry a painting that my daughter Madeline did for her last art project of the year. It is her last high school art project ever actually, her graduation ceremony is Friday. It is a self portrait and I know I am biased but I think it came out beautifully. I was going to reblog the post but decided to just show off her stuff right here instead. I am incredibly proud of her and can’t wait to watch her become an amazing adult!!

Thank you Jan! I think she is too!! 😀 I know there must be something I’m overlooking with the needle tatting. I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to watch to videos a few more times or just try to figure it out on my own. When I have shuttle questions I will be nagging you though. 😀

Thanks! I’m hoping that she finds a career where she can do what she loves – it can be tough and I keep encouraging her to think outside the box with her art.
I’m already looking for needle tatting patterns that don’t need chains so I can keep my happy circles going!!! 😀

You know If you made them circles slimmer and longer you could make a cross. Pretty amazing how neat everything looks, deffo try a pattern throw yourself in the deep end and go for it!! P. S WHAT DO WE WANT!? SKIRT… AND WHEN DO WE WANT IT!! NOW!!!!!

Tami! KUDOS on your tatting progress! So interesting that you stuck to it and you are becoming “habile” – good at it. (chains notwithstanding.)
I saw this phrase – “Remembering to turn your work is very important” – and I thought, maybe for writing too? Maybe, “Remember to turn your work so that you don’t get stuck in the same patterns all the time.” – a creativity boost! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

Oooh thank you for the new word Theresa!!! You know I love learning new words – I’m going to need to slip that one into a conversation and/or the next Scrabble game I play!! It really has been so fascinating to witness how our ‘crafts’ are vastly different yet still similar in the whole creative thought processes and sources of inspiration. I should try applying some of your writing exercises to my crocheting!! 😀

Hah! That would be so fun! I bet there is a lot of overlap for creativity in both efforts. My oldest son, who was a visual artist, and I would sometimes talk about creating through writing and through painting and what overlaps there were. Thank you, Tami!

The tatting looks awesome Tami.
I agree with you about some of the videos, they leave a bit to be desired.
I meant to ask you the other day, I saw you’re from Ct. What part? I lived in Shelton, for a few years. Small world isn’t it. I live in Lawrenceville, NJ now.

Thanks Lyn! It really makes me want to explore making a tutorial video of my own. I was born and raised in the Southeastern part of CT. Hubby and I would like to move to another state someday not sure where, but somewhere that isn’t so expensive to live and I would love to live somewhere with milder winters. 🙂

Thank you Hannah!!! It is definitely a lot more fun when I don’t keep getting all knotted up. 🙂 Do you use a shuttle or needle? I’m going to start looking for some easy beginner patterns soon I think. 😀

The tatting is coming along well and I loved your daughter’s painting! It is always such a thrill seeing your children following their passion and using their talents! Now, to thank you for your wonderful support and encouragement, I have just nominated you for a Blue Sky Tag. See: https://candeloblooms.com/2017/06/15/blue-sky-tag/. Thank you and I enjoy reading your responses!!!

Thank you so much Jane!! All three of my children are so much more talented than I am and I could not be prouder of them!! And thank you for nominating me for the Blue Sky Tag – I really am very honored. You know that I love reading your posts and always look forward to learning more about your glorious gardens!! 🙂

Thanks Kathy! I will definitely hug the girl, but it could be dangerous to hug the tatting – my tatting needle is attached to my ball of thread right now and eyes could get poked. I will instead try to awkwardly hug myself!! 😀

Thank you Trudy! I’m really proud of her. It’s making me crazy with the tatting chains, they should be easy. I might need to actually read some instructions on it. I’m sure once I get it figured out I’ll feel silly that it gave me any trouble at all. 😀

Tami! My daughter just emailed me that she finished her first design of a garment – and it was a crocheted shawl – that is published in Ravelry! it turned out well! She was just bragging to me about it. I thought I’d post on your blog and invite you to take a look: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dancing-butterflies-wrap (she’s the model)! Thanks, Tami!

That is a fantastic shawl! I don’t generally buy patterns because I can usually figure out the stitch combinations used by looking at it but I will be creating a Ravelry account this weekend and buy her pattern. I’ll be sure to post it when I make it. She should be proud of herself! I really love the color yarn that she used. And what a lovely model she makes!! She looks like you. Her eyes are compelling and she has such a sassy spark in them. I love that you can see in the pictures how happy she is with her design! Tell her I said Bravo!! 😀

WOW! I will let her know, she will be thrilled. She was so excited to share this first pattern, and I’m impressed you’re willing to make this a purchase! I’ll share your post with her when you post. And, thanks for the compliments on her photos – I especially liked those last two. I will let her know! :>

I did a post on my blog today featuring the shawl. It really is lovely and I’m excited to start work on it. I won’t pull the trigger on it until the weekend though because I know as soon as I have the pattern I will want to start it immediately and I really need to finish up on two other things that are 90% done. 😀

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